I was imaging me eating
these quesadillas in a picnic. Yep, one of my fav “narrative”
leitmotiv. With friends, those most important ones. A short table,
bought in a vintage market of Portland, set with a fascinating and
characteristic (terribly odd) way. With unpair glasses, cutlery and
plates, everything also coming from a antique market. Old wood
cutting boards, a lightly creased beige cotton tablecloth and
hand-embroidered napkins. A chipped vase with fresh peonies, in the
middle. White, light pink and fuchsia. A cloth and some scattered
pillows where to sit. Some snap-shots with a polaroid. A wicker
basket with the leather shoulder strap. A cold belgian beer, double
malt.

On a green lawn,
obviously. With high and fallow grass.

Not too far away from the
lighthouse. Almost sheer over the sea of Oregon.

A spring lunch, fresh but
strong. The still sparkling air in a shiny sunny day, with a straw
hat on the head and the ocean breeze on bare arms.

These spicy quesadillas
with chicken and sweet potatos (they're not american potatos)
served with a special guacamole and a cold salsa made with tomatoes
and onions.

Only simple and honest
things.

Like a smile, a gaze.

…

I felt like writing a
story, today. Easily.

Pictures that I first draw
in head and then I write down in a black or red notebook.

On a bench, still immersed
from lots of snow, on 2600 m.

And for an istant, just
one, I feel on the top of the world.

Quesadillas with chicken
and sweet potatoes (+ special
guacamole and cold salsa with tomatoes and onions)

the recipe's is from Jamie
(magazine, January '14), doses and method are modified by me

Ingredients:

for
quesadillas:

2 sweet potatoes

a half red onion, peeled

2 fresh red peppers,
minced and without seeds

1 tsp ground hot pepper or
chili flakes

1 chicken breast

1 tsp sweet paprika

1 tsp ground cumin

4 flour tortillas

50-60 g cheese (cheddar or
emmenthal)

a handful fresh coriander,
minced

evo oil

salt

for
the salsa*:

the other half of the red
onion, peeled

6 tomatoes (the type you
like most)

1 fresh red pepper, minced
and without seeds

1 handful fresh coriander,
minced

for
special guacamole:

2 ripe avocados (at the
right point)

1/3 of the salsa*

First prepare the sweet
potatoes mash. Preheat the oven to 180°. Peel the potatoes, wash,
dry and cut them into pieces. Put them in a tray with a line of oil,
season a bit with salt and pepper and cook in oven. In the meantime
cut the onion into thin wedges. After 20-30 minutes of cooking, add
the onion, the pepper (both fresh and ground) to the potatoes and
another line of oil. Mix all and go on with the oven cooking for
other 20-30 minutes (potatoes should be well roasted but at the same
time soft and not extremly crunchy). When potatoes are ready, let them
aside and prepare the salsas.

For
the cold salsa with tomatoes
and onions mince finely
tomatoes and the other half of the red onion. Mix them in a bowl with
the fresh pepper and the fresh coriander. Season with a line of oil
and a pinch of salt. Taste and adjust if necessary.

For
the special guacamole,
peel avocados and cut them into pieces. Put them in a blender or a
food processor (mixer) with a third of the before prepared salsa and
mix until you get a thick and homogeneous mash.

Let the two salsas rest in
a cold place.

Recover the
potatoes+onions (almost cooled) and mix them in the blender to create
the mash.

For the chicken, cut the
meat into medium pieces or into little strips and put it in a pan.
Season with the oil, then add paprika, cumin, fresh pepper and a
pinch of ground red pepper. Mix and salt a bit. Let it marinate for
almost 10-15 minutes.

Cook it in a pan with a
few oil and the marinade liquid too. Roast the meat until you have an
external crust but the inside part has is soft and absolutely not
gristly.

When also the chicken is
ready, prepare the quesadillas. Take one tortilla, spread a layer of
sweet potatoes mash over it, add some piece of chicken, grate a huge
dose of cheese and a wipe of fresh coriander. Close with an other
tortilla on the top and go on until you finish your ingredients.

In the same pan you cooked
the chicken, cleaned with a bit of blotting paper, toast the
quesadillas for 2-3 minutes for each side, until they get golden and
crispy and cheese is lightly melted.

Cut quesadillas into
wedges and serve with the salsas.

Notes:

You can also serve
quesadillas cold. They'll lost a bit their stringy character
(cheese) but they're great served at room temperature. They're right
an awesome idea for the first outdoors spring picnics.

The recipe's so easy
instead the preparation is a little long but absolutely simple. The
important thing is to organize all, if you'll follow my procedure
you won't have any problems.

The
plate is definitely spicy (it's a mexican recipe, right?! ;)
) because of the presence of pepper (fresh and ground) both in the
meat and in the potatoes, oh, and in the cold salsa too. Obviously
you can personalize the doses: reduce or increase red pepper as you
like. If your tablemates don't like spicy food, goes without saying,
change the plan and the recipe :P)

avocados have to be ripe
at the right point, they're the key for the good success of the
salsa. My advice for you is to wait (not too much, otherwise they'll
become useless) and to look for a good product. Unfortunately that's
not so easy, I know. For this I suggest to renounce to the salsa if
you don't find the right avocados. Trust me: it's better without
guacamole than with an uneatable one! ;)

Hey Sandra!Glad you liked the idea and the recipe! :) If I were you I wouldn't be so scared about the method! ;)As I said in the notes it's not so quick to prepare, but it's easy if you follow the advices and tips I gave you!

Comments and thoughts are the soul of this blog, I'm very happy if you leave me some words or write your opinion, but please sign your comment with your name, otherwise the anonymous comments will be eliminated.